MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
- Thread starter JeffB
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JeffB
Let it B
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
Oh I have. Very loud 15w. 7w mode is a bit quieter, a little compressed. Not necessarily in a bad way. But 15w is where the mojo lives.
I did some tube rolling yesterday which really opened it up tonally. Very organic and dynamic and super responsive to your hands and controls. Unlike the Tubemeister. Also unlike the TM18, it doesn't punish you for slop, and also rewards your good technique. I am not getting any mushy lows, they are fat, but defined, like a good broadcaster type bridge pickup.
The amp is not blowing me away, but impressing me in lots of little ways. It's a FUN amp to play,and easy to dial in several good tones within seconds. Set everything at noon and wail away if you want. Plug and play.
Oh I have. Very loud 15w. 7w mode is a bit quieter, a little compressed. Not necessarily in a bad way. But 15w is where the mojo lives.
I did some tube rolling yesterday which really opened it up tonally. Very organic and dynamic and super responsive to your hands and controls. Unlike the Tubemeister. Also unlike the TM18, it doesn't punish you for slop, and also rewards your good technique. I am not getting any mushy lows, they are fat, but defined, like a good broadcaster type bridge pickup.
The amp is not blowing me away, but impressing me in lots of little ways. It's a FUN amp to play,and easy to dial in several good tones within seconds. Set everything at noon and wail away if you want. Plug and play.
TwilightOdyssey
Darkness on the edge of Tone
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
Oh my. Looks great. 15W is a lot of power (to me). How is the headroom? At any point does it stop giving you more volume and just moves into power distortion?
Oh my. Looks great. 15W is a lot of power (to me). How is the headroom? At any point does it stop giving you more volume and just moves into power distortion?
JeffB
Let it B
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
Not a ton of headroom. It will do some very nice cleans though if you don't need a lot of volume.
It's very clean when you roll off the volume on the guitar though with anything but extreme gain. Well at least with my guitars.
The cool thing is that if you run the master higher and gain lower, say 1-2 o'clock on the master and gain around 10-11 o'clock, you get something very reminiscent of an old 2203. Very 70s crunchy and tight...Unleashed in the EAst.. But if you do the reverse, you get that fat orange higher gain tone without the buzz and fuzz. Which I found super fun for 80s metal. At either setting you can get all kinds of in between sounds with your controls. It's extremely responsive to the guitar tone and volume.
At about 1 o'clock on the master the tubes start cooking and you get a bit more volume past that, but you can get an insane amount of power tube gain. I even fiddled around with master dimed and gain at 9 and it gave off this Pete Townsend playing an ac30 type vibe.
You can really fine tune the preamp and power amp clipping how you like.
I made a clip of my typical settings with master at 1 o'clock and volume at 11 oclock. I will post it later.
Not a ton of headroom. It will do some very nice cleans though if you don't need a lot of volume.
It's very clean when you roll off the volume on the guitar though with anything but extreme gain. Well at least with my guitars.
The cool thing is that if you run the master higher and gain lower, say 1-2 o'clock on the master and gain around 10-11 o'clock, you get something very reminiscent of an old 2203. Very 70s crunchy and tight...Unleashed in the EAst.. But if you do the reverse, you get that fat orange higher gain tone without the buzz and fuzz. Which I found super fun for 80s metal. At either setting you can get all kinds of in between sounds with your controls. It's extremely responsive to the guitar tone and volume.
At about 1 o'clock on the master the tubes start cooking and you get a bit more volume past that, but you can get an insane amount of power tube gain. I even fiddled around with master dimed and gain at 9 and it gave off this Pete Townsend playing an ac30 type vibe.
You can really fine tune the preamp and power amp clipping how you like.
I made a clip of my typical settings with master at 1 o'clock and volume at 11 oclock. I will post it later.
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
I love it jeff and I agree, 15w with these is the way to go. I'm yet to find an amp that sounds really good when switched to triode mode to half the power. Sure it's a great compromise when you need less headroom and power but the amps usually sound darker and less responsive. It's not all bad but always better (IME/IMHO) when amps are in pentode... my former TH30 could do 7/15 in triode/15 in pentode/30w and switching between both 15 was exactly what you'd expect: the one using 2 tubes in pentode sounded many times better than when using 4 tubes in triode mode.
Enjoy that set-up, I'm sure it sounds glorious! congratS!
I love it jeff and I agree, 15w with these is the way to go. I'm yet to find an amp that sounds really good when switched to triode mode to half the power. Sure it's a great compromise when you need less headroom and power but the amps usually sound darker and less responsive. It's not all bad but always better (IME/IMHO) when amps are in pentode... my former TH30 could do 7/15 in triode/15 in pentode/30w and switching between both 15 was exactly what you'd expect: the one using 2 tubes in pentode sounded many times better than when using 4 tubes in triode mode.
Enjoy that set-up, I'm sure it sounds glorious! congratS!
Vasshu the humanoid typhoon
Unseen
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
Sweet!
And.....it has EL-84's
Sweet!
And.....it has EL-84's
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
I know... when I stated triode/pentode I was referring to a couple of my former amps and yet it carried on to my TH30 explanation, which also had el84s. Orange states that they operate at lower plate-voltage when used in half-power.
So I'm sorry for confusing the matter here. My take was mostly that running tubes at half power, no matter the means, always yielded sub-optimal tone but was a very good compromise still to running the amp barely open.
I know... when I stated triode/pentode I was referring to a couple of my former amps and yet it carried on to my TH30 explanation, which also had el84s. Orange states that they operate at lower plate-voltage when used in half-power.
So I'm sorry for confusing the matter here. My take was mostly that running tubes at half power, no matter the means, always yielded sub-optimal tone but was a very good compromise still to running the amp barely open.
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Snake Aces
Singlecut Slut
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
Super sweet amp.
Super sweet amp.
JeffB
Let it B
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
The whole pentode/triode issue is why I went with this amp over the DSL40.....The triode mode on the dsl40 just sounds constipated, and to get those el34s juiced and speakers pushed it was just too much volume for my needs in full power mode. The OR15 sounds better in triode mode/half power/whatever than the dsl40 did, though I will live in full power land most of the time.
I know Niels
And I agonized over it for a long time. It came down to economics and being realistic. I couldn't find anything with big bottles that was in my budget that wasn't overkill for volume, and the few 6v6 amps in my budget, like the Tweaker 15 and Dsl15 that did Marshall-esque tones, didn't sound as high quality. It took 14 months for me to pull the trigger on this amp.
The whole pentode/triode issue is why I went with this amp over the DSL40.....The triode mode on the dsl40 just sounds constipated, and to get those el34s juiced and speakers pushed it was just too much volume for my needs in full power mode. The OR15 sounds better in triode mode/half power/whatever than the dsl40 did, though I will live in full power land most of the time.
Sweet!
And.....it has EL-84's
I know Niels
And I agonized over it for a long time. It came down to economics and being realistic. I couldn't find anything with big bottles that was in my budget that wasn't overkill for volume, and the few 6v6 amps in my budget, like the Tweaker 15 and Dsl15 that did Marshall-esque tones, didn't sound as high quality. It took 14 months for me to pull the trigger on this amp.
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TwilightOdyssey
Darkness on the edge of Tone
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
It's a real shame that the Studio 2 is priced beyond what most people can/will spend on a low wattage amp (or even a high wattage one!) I think you would absolutley love it, and it's extremely versatile.
JeffB
Let it B
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
I'm sure I would love it, Ben. Edit- I should add, the only thing that would deter me from the super low watt tube amps is that t they just do not push the speakers enough for me. I grew up playing high volume stacks and that sound of speakers getting hit hard is just essential for what I want to hear. I actually loved the tone of the new dsl 5. It uses a ecc99 power tube and kicks the crap out of the dsl15 for tone. But it just doesn't get the speakers moving enough..same issue with my class5. The 15-20 watt amps do a much better job with my preferred speakers.
I had my sights on a few different booteeks... hi-tone, reeves, G&R, or Grainger...they all had power scaling of some sort or low wattage in the 18-30w range. I was ready to buy but all of a sudden last summer my employer had to bring a lawsuit against their insurance company that essentially pays my salary. Big dispute, and my salary got cut big time as they were paying me out of pocket...and the hope was once the suit was settled I would receive back pay since July and get back to my normal salary. Well, the settlement did not go as well as everyone hoped, and while I am Finally and thankfully back to my normal salary, my back pay was nixed, then a deer took out the front of my car, and the wife's vehicle needs replacing now, so my budget went from 3 grand to less than half of that so......yeah..life keeps getting in the way of all my guitar fun
I'm sure I would love it, Ben. Edit- I should add, the only thing that would deter me from the super low watt tube amps is that t they just do not push the speakers enough for me. I grew up playing high volume stacks and that sound of speakers getting hit hard is just essential for what I want to hear. I actually loved the tone of the new dsl 5. It uses a ecc99 power tube and kicks the crap out of the dsl15 for tone. But it just doesn't get the speakers moving enough..same issue with my class5. The 15-20 watt amps do a much better job with my preferred speakers.
I had my sights on a few different booteeks... hi-tone, reeves, G&R, or Grainger...they all had power scaling of some sort or low wattage in the 18-30w range. I was ready to buy but all of a sudden last summer my employer had to bring a lawsuit against their insurance company that essentially pays my salary. Big dispute, and my salary got cut big time as they were paying me out of pocket...and the hope was once the suit was settled I would receive back pay since July and get back to my normal salary. Well, the settlement did not go as well as everyone hoped, and while I am Finally and thankfully back to my normal salary, my back pay was nixed, then a deer took out the front of my car, and the wife's vehicle needs replacing now, so my budget went from 3 grand to less than half of that so......yeah..life keeps getting in the way of all my guitar fun
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JeffB
Let it B
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
I am not a big fan of them for myself, but I like the sound of them when others are playing them. Certain amps I find them much more tolerable in than others. This amp is one. But they are like crushed glass in most circuits. My old guitar mentor had a early 60s ac15 and ac30 and even those holy grails drove me crazy. Much preferred the wall of old marshalls he had. Just a different texture to the midrange. El84s are like those annoying short guys in life who have a big attitude and overcompensate
I am not a big fan of them for myself, but I like the sound of them when others are playing them. Certain amps I find them much more tolerable in than others. This amp is one. But they are like crushed glass in most circuits. My old guitar mentor had a early 60s ac15 and ac30 and even those holy grails drove me crazy. Much preferred the wall of old marshalls he had. Just a different texture to the midrange. El84s are like those annoying short guys in life who have a big attitude and overcompensate
d1dsj
Cornographer
Re: MY NEW AMP RIG...WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?
Cool set up, I really love my TT and DT but it's such a shame they haven't got an effects loop. However, when we do eventually get around to rehearsing my guitarist band mate always seems to be somewhat cheesed off when I turn up with one of those and a cab and he takes his amp, cab and board but I get the killer sound! Looks like you're all good to go Jeff!
Cool set up, I really love my TT and DT but it's such a shame they haven't got an effects loop. However, when we do eventually get around to rehearsing my guitarist band mate always seems to be somewhat cheesed off when I turn up with one of those and a cab and he takes his amp, cab and board but I get the killer sound! Looks like you're all good to go Jeff!
